New parents lucky enough to have employer-funded paid parental leave are about to be kicked off the government's scheme under Tony Abbott's move to claw back about a billion dollars from so-called double dippers - most of them earning north of $90,000.

"At the moment people can claim parental leave payments from both the government and their employers so they are effectively double dipping," Treasurer Joe Hockey said.

"We are going to stop that. You cannot double dip, you cannot get parental leave paid from your employer and taxpayers ... so for people on the minimum wage they will still get $11,500 for the 18 weeks they are off on parental leave but people will not be able to claim it both from their employer and the taxpayers."

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The change was revealed by Mr Hockey during an interview with Nine's Laurie Oakes in which Mr Hockey suggested the government:

- would present new integrity measure aimed at tax avoidance by large companies.

Mr Hockey also refuted suggestions he had taken a back seat in the budget's design, and the pre-release sales task, to the Social Services Minister, Scott Morrison.

Social Services Minister Scott Morrison.Credit:Louie Douvis

But in a sign that he had largely surrendered control even of the release of crucial budget information, Mr Hockey then refused to discuss aspects of the new $3.5 billion childcare package even though its details had been splashed all over the front pages of a friendly newspaper chain - presumably with the authorisation of Mr Morrison and Mr Abbott.

Asked what the centrepiece childcare package would cost taxpayers, Mr Hockey said "I will leave that to the Prime Minister and the minister responsible today".

The Nine Network political editor Laurie Oakes asked the Treasurer if double-dipping was 'fraud'.Credit:Graham Tidy

"It has been released," responded Oakes incredulously.

"It was announced to one newspaper chain overnight. The rest of us had the announcement today. So surely you can talk about it?"

It is funny really, you cannot talk about your own budget

Oakes then asked if it was worth $3.5 billion as reported.

"It is vitally important," ventured Mr Hockey. "I can see you are upset".

Oakes replied" "It is funny really, you cannot talk about your own budget."

However Mr Hockey - who has taken an unusually low profile over recent months and is refusing to grant the customary pre-budget print media interviews - was more expansive on other aspects of the budget such as the parental leave crackdown on double-dipping.

He said in many cases, the people who had been paid by their employers for time off after childbirth as well as taking the government money had been earning "more than $90,000 a year".

"Given that our own paid parental leave scheme is not proceeding, we want to make sure that the system is fairer and that is what we are doing."

He said the government had not put a figure on the extent of double-dipping but the number of cases was in the thousands.